Cane slicer and leveler attachment for sugar-mill rolls



March 24, 1931. J. FENDER ,7

I CANE SLIGE R AND LEVELER ATTACHMENT FOR SUGAR MILL ROLIJS v Filed Dec.7. 1929v 2 Sheets-$heet l March 24, 1931. c. J. PENDER CANE SLICER ANDLEVELER ATTACHMENT FOR SUGAR MILL ROLLS Filed Dec. '7, 1929 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 24, 1931 i UNITED STATES Parent enrichCULIBERT JAMES FENDER, F LAUTOKA, FIJI ISLANDS CANE SLIGER AND LEVELEEATTACHMENT F015.- SUGAR-MILL ROLLS Apphcation filed December 7, 1929,Serial No. 412,349, and. in Australia January 11, 1929.

This invention consists in improved means leads up to the front of thefirst rolls. It is for leveling and slicing the incoming mattedpreferred that one of tiem be positioned at mass of sugar cane toprepare it for crushing some distance from the delivery end of the in aroller mill, thus to render it more amenfeed race, and the other nearthe receiving able to treatment in the mill, to equalize the end of thefeed race. feed, and to fully utilize the mill capacity. The deviceconsists of a plurality of re- Cane levelers heretofore known consist ofvolving wheel cutters disposed side by side gangs of revolving knivesoperating above on the same shaft, the shaft mounted for the feedcarrier in alignment with the course IOtfitlOIl'tCIOSS the carrier andabove it. Each 10 of the feed; these knives are so disposed that Ofthese cutters comprises a hub which is they divide and carve the mass ofcane in the keyed to the shaft, spokes radiating from direction of itsmovement towards the rolls the hub carrying a pair of felloes, and aseand procure some leveling of the feed. An- 'ries of knife blades fixedperipherally across other type of device for like purposes utilizes thefelloes, and spaced symmetrically. Discs l5 gangs of intermeshing disccutters which also may be substituted forthe spokes and felloes, operatein alignment with the course of the in which case the knife blades arefixed to feed; these cutters operate to carve and dithe discperipheries. The number of revolvvide the cane in the direction of theincoming ing Wheel cutters varies according to the feed. Another type ofknown apparatus width of the carrier. It is important that the consistsin a pair of intermeshing patterned design should be rugged, and thatthe knives or grooved rolls between which the feed is should be shortrather than long; hence in caused to pass; these rolls bruise and crackthe case of a wide carrier three or more rethe cane into short lengthsand they are so volving Wheel cutters should be used to make designedand are so set that in the crushing up the width. It would bepracticable, but

which the cane suffers as little juice as possifor obvious reasons itwould be undesirable, ble is liberated. Hammers or Stampers or to useonly one wheel cutter instead of two disintegrator beaters have alsobeen used to or more wheel cutters disposed side by side. bruise thecane and produce a loose mat of The knives are chisel edged and they aredeirregularly broken feed- It is well known to mountably fixed to thefelloes or discs so as 39 sugar engineers that any such preparatory tofacilitate removal for sharpening and retreatment of the cane results inbetter extracplacement. tion of the juice from the cane in the crusherhe approaching matted mass of cane is rolls and also results inenlargement of the brought up to the device on its way to thethroughput, but the known devices for slicing mill on the usual carrieror conveyor which and leveling are not satisfactory as they do is fittedin the feed race, and the revolving not effect the desirable reductionof the canes knives slice the cane across its length as it and uniformleveling of the feed approaching reaches them, and deliver slicings andfragthe mill rolls. ments of cane fairly evenly on the conveyor, Thedevice in which the present invention and distributes them so that aleveled feed consists is broadly distinguished from all the goes to thechute hopper which delivers the known devices; it operates to effectcomplete feed to the rolls. The cutters are chiselopening up of the cellstructure of the cane edged blades; in length they measure 12 to anduniform leveling of the feed, and it 15 inches, but they might beshorter or longer.

[5 brings aboutamarked reduction in the power The direction of rotationmay be positive required for driving and 1t materially augor negative.When it is positlve, the knives ments the mill throughput. out down onthe feed, but when the direction This device may be fitted at anyposition of drive is negative, the knives strike upin the cane circuitleading to the mill, but it is wardly across the leading ends of themass preferable that two of these devices be used, of tangled canesadvancing towards the mill.

both of them located in the feed race which The knives may be disposedhelically across the felloes or discs to which they are cleinountablyattached so as to effect a more or less angular cut instead of astraightacross out. It is necessary to fit a hood above and around eachof the devices to deflect back into the ca rier any cane pieces whichare thrown outward by the knives. vVhen the direction of rotation isnegative and the cane is short in length itis advantageous to fit ahanging battle in front of the device; this hanging baffle trails on thecane on the carrier as the cane passes under it and coinpacts the canepieces and prevents the lifting of short lengths of uncut cane over thedevice. A vertical baffle fitted above the device also functions toarrest pieces of uncut cane.

The device is fitted so that there is more or less clearance between thebottom of it and the bed of the feed race. In practice, a clearance ofabout one-half inch is most desirable. The most effective arrangementwhich has been tested out in practice utilizes two of these devicesoperating in series. The first one (K Fig. is set with a clearance ofinches to 24: inches above the floor of the carrier depenoing on theheight at which cane is delivered onto it. The most effectiveclearance'is that which permits this first device X to produce thatamount of cuttings which suflices to fill the voids in the mass of canewhich passes it. The second device, (Y Fig. 5) which is near the mill,is Set with very low clearancepreferably less than one inch above thefloor of the carrier. lVith this arrangement a nearly perfectdivisionand leveling of the feed is obtained.

.The diameter of the felloes or discs which form the frames of thecutter heads may be about three feet more or less; an effective drivingspeed has been found to be about e00 to 500 revolutions per minutesubject to appropriate variation according to the diameter and the speedof revolution, the desirable peripheral speedbeing about 5000 to 6000feet per minute. The device is set athwart the feed race, and it isunnecessary that all the individual canes should approach it endwise; itwill slice and level cane irrespective of the direction in which theindividual canes are presented to the knives. The device subdivides thecane into relatively small slices and sawdust-like particles ready forthe mill. Cf the cuttings, somepass under the knives into the spacesintermediate the knives, and are thrown off, others cling to theunderface of the-knives for a fraction of a second before flying off,these latter cuttings have a noticeable self-sharpening effect byslightly wearing away the underside of the knives. The cuttingsarethrown off with great force and are mostly projected for wardly by thecentrifugal action and the wind caused by the revolving motion. Someofthe cuttings are thrown on t. e frontside of the device, these arebrought forward to it again by the on-coming cane. The more desirabledirection of drive is negative, that is to say, with the knives strikingupwardly toward the battles, against the advancing mass of cane; butgood results are also obtained with a positive drive, in which theknives strike downwardly.

Eight knives, more or less, are spaced peripherally around the felloesor discs. The knives are chisel-edged and are detachably secured to thefelloes or discs, and in order that the nuts or heads of the holding-onbolts or studs will not stand proud of the cutting faces, it ispreferred that the cutters shall be joa'gled in section so that theplane of the leading edge stands above flush of the nuts or stud headswhich seat upon downstepped butt portions of the blades.

1 am not aware of any cane slicer or leveler device which may be drivenin the negative direction, that is with knives sweeping backward andupward against the advancing cane. An advantage is obtained by thenegative drive, as, when the drive is negative, short lengths of canecannot be drawn underneath as when running positively, but are pushedbackwards amongst the oncoming cae, and then as the mass comes forwardthey again encounter the knives.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is an end elevational view of thedevice;

i 1g. 2 transverse sections through three different patterns of knives;

Fig. 8 is a front elevational view of one cutter head of the device;

Fig. 4c is a fragmentary transverse section on the plane l l, Fig. 1;and

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional elevation showing the device fittedto a mill feed race.

A is a shaft, B a hub thereon, C spokes radiating from the hub B, D twoflat rings (or maybe discs) carried on the hub B and spaced apart aboutS'inches to 9 inches when using knivesabout 12 inches long. E arechannel section bridges or knife holders which cross connect the ringsDD, to which their flanges are riveted. About eight such bridges spacedequidistant are fitted. The outside diameter measurement of the rin s 1)is aboutB feet more or less. On each of the bridges a knife is fixed byscrewpins or any other means. The knives should be fixed demountably, asit is necessary to remove them from time to time for re-sharpening. Theedges of the knives F set proud of the peripheral edges of the rings D,and the bolt nuts orstud heads G should set within the circle sweptbythe knife edges in order to prevent them frombashing the cane. Ifparallel faced knives (a' Fig. 2) are used, this back-setting of thebolt or pin heads requires the grinding of the knives to a bluffer angleand the tilting of the knives at a steeper angle than that suggestedinFig. 1 Preferably the knives are joggledinlsection as shown at b Fig. 2,or they are fixed to butts, c Fig. 2, the butts setting back, as seen inFig. 1. A sufficient number of cutter heads is mounted side by side onthe shaft to span the width of carrier, a clearance of about 1 inchbeing allowed between the knife ends and the sides of the carrier.

The direction of rotation may be either positive or negative, but ispreferably negat-ive that is to say the cutters strike upwardly towardsthe incoming feed. Baflles L and H are fitted only when the rotation isnegative, the battle L holds the top pieces of cane down and neutralizesthe tendency of the knives to lift them and the bafile H prevents shortlengths being thrown over.

If the drive is in the positive direction there is a tendency for allshort cane (also for long lengths of cane after they have been cutshort) that is about the same height on the carrier as the knives whenin their lowest position, to be drawn under and thrown forward withoutbeing properly sliced up.

The device constituted of the requisite number of cutter heads withknives, mounted on a driving shaft, is an open skeleton structurethrough which the cane slices and fragments cut by the knives may passfreely. The majority of the cuttings are thrown forward towards themill, others are thrown upwards and others backwards. The slices: andfragments thrown backwards fall into the oncoming cane and are broughtup to the knives again, suffering further reduction and are ultimatelythrown forward towards the mill.

At sugar mills where high and low fibred canes are milled, the formersometimes containing 15% fibre and the latter 8% or 9%, it is difficultto set the mills to crush both efficiently. If the mill openings are setto suit the low fibred canes, the high fibred ones pull the mill up, andconversely if the settings are made to suit the high fibred canes thelow fibred ones pass through the mills without being crushedefficiently. In some mills this difficulty is met by mixing high fibredcane with low fibred cane, but this is not always convenient even whenthere are facilities for mixing.

Trials have proved that with this apparatus the cane is finely dividedand that little extra horse power is consumed in crushing high fibredcane above that required in the milling of low fibred canes.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is2-- Apparatus for leveling and slicing sugar cane including a feed race,a supporting shaft mounted transversely of the feed race, a plurality ofskeleton frames carried by the shaft, each frame comprising a pluralityof thin spaced plates connected together, said frames being arrangedside by side on the shaft throughout the width of the feed race, aplurality of knives carried in spaced relation on the periphery of eachframe having cutting edges disposed parallel to the axis of said shaft,the knives of each frame extending a distance laterally of the latterand into close relation with the knives of the adjacent frame affordinga space between the frames for the passage of material, the knives beingsubstantially flat and disposed obliquely to a plane passing radiallythrough the axis of the shaft and the knives whereby the centrifugalforce acting on the material carried around with the rotating knivescauses said material to be thrown outwardly.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

CULBERT JAMES FENDER.

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